Linux Format Blog

Yes, we really have installed and tested fifty different
distributions for this issue’s main feature. And yet, it
feels like we’ve only scratched the surface. The diversity
we found in each distribution is incredible, whether for security,
size, design or community support, plus any number of other
unique features. Linux is unique. Just look at how many
successful distributions they are, all thriving alongside one
another. This diversity is a testament to both the ingenuity of
the teams responsible and the rights enshrined within the GPL.

Almost without our noticing, the web has become an
integral part of our lives; it’s become the hub for
shopping, banking, communicating, working and
entertaining. Many of us carry devices that keep us connected
all the time, and we think nothing of quickly grabbing our email,
checking a forum or sending a message from wherever we
might be. It’s in many ways more magical than the sci-fi future I
was promised in the 1970s. But many of us are also in denial
about two things. The first is that we think our presence on the

Many years ago, after I first got Linux working, it took
a long time to understand what it was all about and
what held the operating system together. I remember,
after some struggling, seeing KDE for the first time and
wondering why I couldn't just download an executable and run
it. I couldn't believe that USB devices didn’t simply work, or
Windows drivers couldn't be installed, or that the CD-ROM
wouldn't automatically mount itself.

All of those specific problems have gone, but the questions
they raise are just as important today. And despite being used
everywhere, from tiny black boxes and Android phones to the
multiplicity of servers run by Google, Linux is still difficult
to understand.

Many people have got used to the idea that operating
systems are supposed to be transparent. But Linux is different,
and to get the most out of it, it really does help to know your
way around. This is the motivation behind this month’s main
feature – What is Linux?

As a magazine, we've covered all the various components
that come together to make Linux, but we've never before
covered exactly how they come together. We've approached the
subject in a way that we’re hoping will be easy enough for
beginners to understand, but there are plenty of gory details for
everyone – I never understood what those wretched dynamic
kernel modules were until now, for example; and because Linux
is always changing, it’s a good way of putting those changes
in context.

Last year was awesome for Linux and free software.
Android grew much stronger, more people than ever
understood the ideas behind open source and the
Raspberry Pi helped to erase any last vestige of ‘hacker-elite’
from preconceptions of Linux.

After reading Andrew’s excellent Roundup on
alternative desktops (p30), I’m not sure how I feel
about the way desktops are going. I’m still surprised, for
example, that both Gnome and KDE developers made such
massive changes to their desktops, when for many years the
old versions had worked brilliantly. KDE 4.9 is stable, but it still
takes a lot of effort to make the environment your own. And
despite Microsoft staking some of its future on it, I don’t like
Gnome’s homogenous touch interface. I accept that tablets and

I’ve just come back from a week’s snowboarding in the French Alps. I used to mess around in the snow a fair bit (I lived near a resort for a while), but it had been 8 years since I’d last bolted my feet to a 163cm long piece of board.

If you've read the blog post below, you'll know that I'm heading off to Weißbier-land. Well, this opens up a new position at Linux Format Towers -- we're looking for a Digital Media Editor. In a nutshell, you'll be the next Me, creating the multi-booting DVD, writing articles for the magazine, helping out with the websites and buying the odd round at the pub.

We're just about to get started on issue 153 of Linux Format, and it'll be my last working full-time on the magazine. It's been an amazing journey since I joined back in 2005, when we were working on issue 70 (with Debian 3.1 on the cover!). So much has changed in the world of Linux, and the sheer amount of talent in the free software community continues to astound me. Great days lie ahead.

We've had many wild and wondrous things posted to us here at Linux Format Towers. One chap sent an unlabelled SD card in an envelope, which contained pictures of viking battle clothing. Then some random department of government pen-pushers inadvertently sent us a warning that our office was violating RoHS directives. (Or perhaps they were just referring to Effy's lunch.) But today we received the coolest thing of all from Paul Williams (aka Heiowge), and here it is...